ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses participatory resource management, and highlights how certain concepts or forms of participation gain privilege in development and water governance agendas. Then it focuses on case study and examines how Accra's Local Water Boards (LWBs) function and what spaces these have, or have not, created for participation. Both the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and the private Aqua-Vitens Rand Limited consortium (AVRL), are the main providers of drinking water in Accra, participatory water governance has long been on the agenda. This chapter explains to understand hegemonies of participation as they work on multiple registers in the context of water governance in urban Accra. It consideres some conceptual issues related to hegemony in both the discourse and practice of participation. Finally, the chapter illustrates how formal and informal manifestations are likely to be closely interwoven. It is clear that the LWBs are offering some important functionality with respect to fostering participatory water governance.
